Heavy rains lash Kolkata, parts of south Bengal

Thunderclouds, aided by a trough over Gangetic West Bengal, triggered heavy showers in parts of Kolkata and several districts across south Bengal on Tuesday evening.

An Air Asia flight to Bagdogra from here with 171 passengers including West Bengal minister Arup Biswas was forced to return shortly after takeoff due to a thunderstorm, airport sources said.

thunderclouds were formed at a height of 5.8 km from ground level, leading to heavy rains that began around 5 pm, an official of Regional Meteorological Centre said.

unseasonal rains, accompanied by hailstorm and heavy winds in some areas, brought traffic to a standstill in city during evening rush hours, inconveniencing home- bound commuters.

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Parts of Bankura, Purulia, East and West Medinipur, Howrah, rth and South 24 Parganas districts received heavy rains, official said.

re was report of any casualty in city due to rains, Kolkata Police sources said, adding that a tree fell in Chingrighata area causing dam to a parked car.

Flight I5536 took off at 4 pm from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport but returned around 20 minutes later, sources said.

pilot contacted ATC and was granted permission to land with standard emergency measures in place, y added.

"We were scared as plane was suddenly caught in storm... But everything went off well afterwards," Biswas said. flight arrived in Bagdogra later in evening.

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